Final_Judgment

[396] Final Judgment 493
POSNER'S CONTRADICTIONS
Throughout the book Posner will cite conclusions by the House
Select Committee on Assassinations that agree with his thesis that Oswald
carried out the crime alone. However, when a finding by the HSCA doesn't
jibe with Posner, he dismisses the HSCA out of hand.
Then, although Posner actively seeks to discredit JFK assassination
researcher Anthony Summers throughout the book, he cites Summers as a
source (on page 144, for example) by quoting Summers to the effect that
Jim Garrison's case against Clay Shaw was "extremely weak." In other
words, Summers is an unreliable source when Summers' conclusions point
toward a conspiracy, but when Summers' own conclusions about some
matter even vaguely agree with Posner's, Posner finds Summers worth
citing to back up his own views.
Posner cites a witness named Jack Tatum who reportedly saw
Oswald leave the scene of the murder of Dallas Police Officer J. D. Tippit,
stating that Tatum "told his story for the first time to investigators for the
House Select Committee on Assassinations."
This is interesting because in other instances when other witnesses who
contradict Posner's thesis had not come forth and told their stories initially,
Posner questions their reliability. However, when a late-coming witness,
such as this one, seems to confirm Posner's thesis, he cites such a witness
as being reliable and "proof' of his (Posner's) correctness.
POSNER'S NAME-CALLING
Posner's primary talent is ad homenim attacks on witnesses whose
testimony does not jibe with his conclusions, which are, of course, nothing
more than the same conclusions reached by the Warren Commission some
thirty years before. For example, Posner calls one witness "an admitted
drunk" (suggesting, I suppose, that drunks are constitutionally incapable of
ever telling the truth about anything). But that's only one example of many.
In an attempt to discredit Delphine Roberts, who was the secretary and
mistress of CIA contract operative Guy Banister, Posner attacks some of her
rather exotic political and religious beliefs—which have absolutely nothing
whatsoever to do with the fact that Mrs. Roberts claims that Lee Harvey
Oswald had a close association with Banister and his activities.
When Posner approaches the allegations about Oswald's CIA
connections made by well-known former CIA contract operative Gerry
Patrick Hemming, Posner calls Hemming a "self-promoter" who has
provided "outlandish and unproven 'disclosures'" about the JFK
assassination. Again, more name calling.
When Posner seeks to discredit Mrs. Jean Hill's claim that she was
intimidated and bullied by Warren Commission counsel Arlen Specter,
Posner says that "there is nothing remotely approaching such conduct by
Specter in the stenographer's verbatim transcription of the deposition."